Lady Chanticleers Claim Big South Cross Country Crown; CCU Men Finish Second
11/2/2002 11:51:00 AM | Track & Field/Cross Country
ROCK HILL,S.C.— High Point picked up its first-ever Big South title in any sport Saturday, winning the 2002 Big South Men's Cross Country title. The Coastal Carolina women placed four runners in the top five, to win the Women's Cross Country title. Both championships were held at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC.
Anne Marie Moutsinga won the women's 5K race with a time of 17:06.70, besting second-place finisher Stephanie Vangsnes of Winthrop by over 48 seconds. Vangsnes finished with a time of 17:55.64.
CCU had five runners finish in the top 10 in the race, while four of those finished in the top five. Kara Koppel finished third, Lindsey Kozlowski finished fourth, and Kim Nemergut finished fifth.
CCU won the race with 22 points, followed by UNC Asheville, who placed second with 59 points. Liberty took third place with 79 points, Winthrop finished in fourth place with 91 points, High Point finished fifth with 145 points, Charleston Southern finished sixth with 154 points, Elon finished seventh 174 points and Radford came in eighth with 175 points.
Terah Kipchiris of CCU won the men's 8K race with a time of 24:40.72, while High Point took team honors in the event. HPU had four runners finish in the top six, and seven finish in the top 15.
Tommy Evans and Jeff Fairman of HPU finished second and third, respectively, while CCU's Nelson Oliveria finished fourth. Taylor Milne of HPU finished fifth in the event.
HPU won the race with 29 points, followed by CCU, who finished second with 70 points. Liberty finished third with 80 points, UNCA finished fourth with 112 points, RU finished fifth with 144 points, Elon finished sixth with 159 points, Winthrop finished seventh with 161 points, and Charleston Southern finished eighth with 190 points.
After the race, the Big South also announced awards for Runners of the Year, Freshmen of the Year, Coaches of the Year, and Cross Country Scholar-Athletes. The All-Conference teams were also announced.
Moutsinga won the women's runner of the year award, while Kipchiris won the men's runner of the year. Moutsinga is a freshman from Galati, Romania. Kipchiris is a sophomore from Kitale, Kenya.
CCU swept the Freshman of the Year awards, with Nelson Oliveria taking the men's award, and Jessica Goeden taking the women's award. Oliveria is from Coimbria, Portugal, while Goeden hails from Grand Rapids, Minn.
Vangsnes of WU and Koppel of CCU tied for the Women's Scholar-Athlete awards. Vangsnes is a junior elementary education major from Cowpens, S.C. Koppel is a senior psychology major from McDonald, Ohio.
The Men's Scholar-Athlete was Jack Rookstool of EU. Rookstool is a junior youth ministry major of Hatboro, Penn.
Al Barnes of HPU was named the Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year, while Alan Connie of CCU was named the Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year.
The top 10 finishers in each race were named as All-Conference performers. The women's team included: Moutsinga, Koppel, Kozlowski, Nemergut, and Robyn Ritter of CCU; Loring Watkins and Mickie Logue of UNCA; Vangsnes of WU; Lindsay Macpherson of CSU; and Samantha Pelletier of Liberty.
The men's All-Conference team included: Evans, Fairman, Milne and Adrian Hill of HPU; Kipchiris and Oliveria of CCU; Tim Dutton and Goran Nava of Radford; Joel Collier of UNCA; and Dan Rabe of Liberty.
AWARDS
Men's Coach of the Year
Al Barnes of High Point
Women's Coach of the Year
Alan Connie of Coastal Carolina
Men's Runner of the Year
Terah Kipchirs of Coastal Carolina
Women's Runner of the Year
Anne Marie Moutsinga of Coastal Carolina
Men's Freshman of the Year
Nelson Oliveria of Coastal Carolina
Women's Freshman of the Year
Jessica Goeden of Coastal Carolina
Men's Scholar-Athlete
Jack Rookstool of Elon
Women's Scholar-Athletes
Kara Koppel of Coastal Carolina
Stephanie Vangsnes of Winthrop
Men's All-Conference Team
Terah Kipchirus of Coastal Carolina
Tommy Evans of High Point
Jeff Fairman of High Point
Nelson Oliveria of Coastal Carolina
Taylor Milne of High Point
Adrian Hill of High Point
Tim Dutton of Radford
Joel Collier of UNC Asheville
Dan Rabe of Liberty
Goran Nava of Radford
Women's All-Conference Team
Anne Marie Moutsinga of Coastal Carolina
Stephanie Vangsnes of Winthrop
Kara Koppel of Coastal Carolina
Lindsey Kozlowski of Coastal Carolina
Kim Nemergut of Coastal Carolina
Loring Watkins of UNC Asheville
Lindsay Macpherson of Charleston Southern
Samantha Pelletier of Liberty
Robyn Ritter of Coastal Carolina
Micki Logue of UNC Asheville
